Oyo to Acquire ‘Keys Hotels’ Brand from Berggruen Hotels Chain

Gurgaon headquartered budget hotel chain Oyo is reportedly in talks to acquire Keys Hotels in India from US private equity and venture capital firm Berggruen Holdings, The Economic Times reported.

Founded in September 2006, by $2-billion Berggruen Holdings and Sanjay Sethi , Keys Hotels is a brand of full-service hotels in India that operates under its parent chain of Berggruen Hotels.

Keys Hotels has a portfolio of about 21 hotels across 19 locations pan India including Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon, and Mahabaleshwar, has an estimated debt of about Rs 160 crore. The company had been scouting for buyers for a few years now, and was seeking a valuation of $125 million.

However, an another report said, the acquisition talks have been denied by Oyo. “This is baseless speculation,” the report said quoting OYO spokesperson.

“Our acquisition strategy is targeted towards acquiring entities that assist us in building capabilities. We, therefore, look at selective but strategic investments that help build capabilities rather than just scale. We do not have any further announcements to make at the moment,” the spokesperson said.

Oyo, which has been expanding aggressively operations within India and overseas locations such as China, Malaysia, UK, UAE, Indonesia, Philippines and the US, was recently also in talks to acquire shared workspace startup Innov8 for about Rs200 crore in an all-cash deal.

In August last year, it had reportedly fully acquired Mumbai-based Weddingz, an online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors, in a cash-and-stock deal. In March, Oyo acquired Chennai-based serviced apartments company Novascotia Boutique Homes and rechristened as SilverKey.

Recently, OYO is reported to have held talks to acquire Treebo Hotels, a rival firm also into affordable accommodation segment and headquartered in Bangalore. Matrix Partners and SAIF Partners are common investors in both OYO and Treebo.

Owned and operated by Oravel Stays Pvt Ltd, Oyo was is also reportedly testing waters in the US. The company has reportedly opened an office in Dallas, and grown workforce to almost 30, The Information reported last week. It has started to renovate motels and no-frills hotels around Texas.

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